Women's Studies Minor

The Helen M. Upton Center for Women's Studies has overseen the interdisciplinary Women's Studies minor since the center was founded in 1990. The Women's Studies minor allows students to explore the experiences, contributions and perspectives of women from a variety of disciplines. Students can choose courses in diverse fields from English to Nursing, Biology to Criminal Justice and each student can construct a minor that will complement her major field of study. The Women's Studies minor will enhance each student's women's college education and prepare themselves for the world they will encounter when they complete their studies. Students have said that women's studies courses help them to clarify important personal, political and professional issues and prepare them for lifelong learning and growth.

"You gain a greater respect and understanding of the different lives other women lead. The more I learned about other women in the world, the more I learned about myself as a woman. " - Anna Quiñones, Class of 2005

The Women's Studies minor “fills in the blanks" left by traditional curricula that focus on men's experiences and accomplishments as the norm. Women have always contributed to society but their stories have not been told nearly as much as men's. The Women's Studies minor tells the stories of women in history, math, science, literature, business, government, art, health and all areas of life. It offers a unique and more complete perspective on the world; a perspective that will be valued by future employers and will complement every field of study.

"Women's studies courses encourage women to be strong, powerful and influential. I am confident that the women who surround me at Russell Sage College are going to make a difference on our campus, in their own communities and in their future endeavors and places of employment." - Mary-Ellen E. Stockwell, Class of 2008

The 18-credit Women's Studies minor can be completed by students in nearly any major. Choosing from courses in diverse fields -- from English to Nursing, Biology to Criminal Justice -- students can construct a minor that will complement their major field of study and enhance the value of a women's college education.

Women's Studies courses help students to clarify important personal, political, and professional issues and to prepare themselves for the world they will encounter when they complete their studies.

Why Study Women's Studies?

Studying women's studies is more than just learning the laws and theories of feminist scholars. Women's Studies, unlike any other discipline, allows students to gain a new world view instead of studying a static set of rules and laws. Women's Studies allows students to see the world they have experienced since birth through a completely different lens, to ask questions that challenge the status quo, and most importantly, provides students with the knowledge to create change. Women's Studies is a dynamic, diverse, and constantly changing field. It is relevant to every situation in which persons of every gender interact. If that is not enough, in studying at Russell Sage College we have the unique opportunity to examine how our gender manifests as an integral part of our identities. It is this quest to understand how our unique experience as women shapes us that makes women's studies so relevant. It is also the reason that no student of Russell Sage College should graduate without a Women’s Studies minor. -- Caitlynne Cash, Class of 2010